Lance Armstrong’s confession to Oprah Winfrey has no substance and he can only
reduce his ban by fully co-operating with the authorities, according to Dave
Howman, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency.

Coming clean: disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong explains a point during his interview with Oprah WinfreyPhoto: AFP

Howman confirmed Wada had not been contacted by Armstrong and the agency would have no prior knowledge of the content of the Winfrey interview before it is broadcast on Friday.

“We fall in the category of the world and we wait to see it. It doesn’t make any difference to the ban he is facing. This will not lead to any reconsideration or rehearing,” Howman told The Daily Telegraph.

“We will see the outcome in due course. He knows what he has to do. He allowed a process to go ahead without his participation. Two appeal times passed by without him participating. Unless you participate in one way or another you are not going to get any satisfactory answers.

“His lawyers, and he has many of them, will know how to do that and certainly not by going on Oprah Winfrey and making various utterances. It hasn’t got any legal substance and if he thinks this is a way whereby he is going to compete again then he is certainly very mistaken.”

Wada confirmed the only way Armstrong could reduce his ban was by making a “full confession” under oath and tell the authorities “all he knows about doping activities”.

“There have been a few suggestions that I would be approached but those suggestions have not led to any substance,” Howman said. “We have just got to play these things as they turn out and then deal with them.”

Armstrong has been urged to co-operate with the authorities by Jonathan Vaughters, a former team-mate whose evidence formed part of the reasoned decision by the United States Anti-Doping Agency which led to his lifetime ban.

“If, and this is a big if, Lance chooses to come forward and be honest, then I have to respect that decision,” Vaughters said. “I hope that after talking about it publicly, he also chooses to speak to the anti-doping authorities like Wada, and help them develop new tests, learning how to move the system in their favour.

“The doping issue in cycling has never been about Lance Armstrong only. It’s a broader problem and always has been. But hopefully he will help fix that broader issue.”

Armstrong met Travis Tygart, the head of USADA, last month before beginning his publicity drive which culminates this week with his Winfrey interview.

Armstrong is believed to want to compete in triathlon and iron man events but his USADA ban prevents him appearing in officially sanctioned competition.

If he fully co-operates with USADA and Wada he could cut his life ban to eight years but that would leave him approaching 50 by the time he has served his punishment, which suggests his decision to start talking is more about solving the massive legal battles he faces.

The Sunday Times is suing him for the damages he won against the newspaper in 2005, there is a £5 million suit from a promotion firm in Texas over bonuses paid when he won the Tour de France, and a whistleblower case being led by his former team-mate Floyd Landis